Who Governs Data in the AI Era? A Computational Analysis of the U.S. Privacy Workforce in Job Postings

2026-09-25

AI Summary

This study addresses the ambiguity in defining privacy-related professional roles and the unclear cross-disciplinary competency requirements in the AI era. By applying rule-based text mining and BERTopic modeling to job posting data from LinkedIn and Indeed in the United States, we systematically analyze the evolving landscape of privacy positions. The analysis identifies 18 latent topics, revealing that AI governance responsibilities are becoming deeply embedded within existing privacy roles, thereby catalyzing hybrid positions that demand both compliance expertise and technical proficiency. Results indicate that over half of the postings require AI-related skills, with privacy roles increasingly integrating multidimensional competencies spanning legal, technical, and managerial domains. This work provides empirical evidence for understanding the AI-driven evolution of privacy professions.

Abstract

Privacy protection now spans legal, technical, and managerial duties, and demand for privacy professionals is growing across sectors. However, little is known about how employers define these roles. We analyze 1,143 U.S. privacy job postings from LinkedIn and Indeed. We examine job titles, salaries, competencies, certifications, education, experience, regulatory references, and AI-related language by using rule-based text mining. We also apply Topic Modeling (BERTopic) to the same postings and identify 18 latent themes which we grouped them into four categories. Our findings show that privacy roles are hybrid and they combine legal knowledge, technical skills, and interpersonal competence. Artificial intelligence appears in more than half of postings, with AI language spread across compliance, legal, governance and security themes. Our research indicates that AI governance responsibilities are often embedded within existing privacy roles, contributing to the rise of hybrid positions alongside dedicated AI governance roles.

Problem

• privacy workforce
• AI governance
• job postings
• data privacy
• hybrid roles

Innovation

• Rule-based Text Mining
• BERTopic
• Topic Modeling
• Privacy Workforce
• AI Governance